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The voyage of philosophy : Dr. Ahn’s youtube philosophy classroom
Unit 21 : The Idealistic Atomism,
Leibniz’s Monadology
Leibniz’s monadology as idealistic atomism.
The philosophy of Leibniz arose from the reflexion over Descartes’ philosophy, which proved the absolute certainty of mind(=Thinking-I) and separability of mind from body. And Descartes represented the dualism of two substances, i.e. thinking substance and extending substance.
Descartes provided a clue to the basic insight for Leibniz’s philosophical development: The body is divisible, but the mind can’t be divided. Mind is single unity.
There is a great difference between the mind and the body. Every body is by its nature divisible, but the mind can’t be divided. When I consider the mind i.e. consider myself purely as a thinking thing—I can’t detect any parts within myself; I understand myself to be something single and complete. (Descartes : Meditations on first Philosophy, 6. Meditation)
Basically Leibniz’s contribution consists in that he analyzed and criticized one of the Descartes’ two substances, i.e. matter or body : The matter as extension can not be substance in the strict sense because the notion of extension or body includes the divisibility, infinite divisibility as Descartes already said. Therefore matter or body is not simple thing, substance but a kind of aggregate.
According to Leibniz the so-called atom can’t be unity even if its name means Not-To-Be-Divided because the atom as an extended thing is also to be divided endlessly.
“According to Leibniz, bodies (qua material) are aggregates, and an aggregate, of course, is not a substance on account of its lack of unity”. (cited from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Leibniz’s Philosophy of Mind)
As opposed to the matter or body there exist a simple thing, which Leibniz conceptualized as Monad.
# The source of the concept of the Monad
Furthermore the name and meaning of Monad originated from Plato’s thought which Aristotle transmitted. Plato was said to put his view as follows in his lecture “On Philosophy” :
Mind is the monad, science or knowledge the dyad (because it goes undeviatingly from one point to another), opinion the number of the plane, sensation the number of the solid. (Aristotle, On the Soul, 404 b)
Therefore Leibnizian conception of the Monad is to be understood from the classical Greek philosophy of Plato and Aristotle: Leibniz tried to supplement some aspects of Descartes through Greek philosophy.
The Monad, of which we shall here speak, is nothing but a simple substance, which enters into compounds. By ‘simple’ is meant ‘without parts.’ (Leibniz: The Monadology 1714 par. 1)
The notion of Monad is similar to that of atom : “These Monads are the real atoms of nature and, in a word, the elements of things”. (The Monadology par. 3)
Monad has no parts therefore it cannot be altered by other things : “The Monads have no windows, through which anything could come in or go out”. (The Monadology par. 7)
The statement that “the Monads have no windows” asserts that the Monad has no relation with external substances, it is said to maintain its unity, self-identity regardless of material world.
However, surprisingly the windowless Monads have their own qualities due to which they are to be distinguished from one another. Every single monad is unique, which is the intrinsic characteristic of the Monad-Theory as spiritual atomism. The materialistic atomism of Democritus attributed no difference of quality to the atoms: All the atoms are said to be of a same kind.
The Monads are supposed to represent not only human souls but also souls of all living creatures. Animal’s souls are called by Leibniz as the bare Monads. In this regard Leibniz objected to the theory of animal-machine held by Descartes : Animals are machines unable to think.
There are various species of Monads, even though the Monad as human mind is most important in the philosophical system of Leibniz.
2. the attributes of Monad as perception and desire
Descartes recognized the essence of spirit simply as Thinking(=ego cogito) however Leibniz determined the spirit as perception and desire. Therefore Monad as the other name of spirit is said to have perception and desire(=appetition).
Leibniz’s perception is a very comprehensive notion; it involves thought as well as (sensory) perception.
Leibniz determinates the perception as “the multiplicity in the unity”, which denotes the synthetic unity of the manifold through the pure apperception by Kant.
The passing condition, which involves and represents a multiplicity in the unit [unité] or in the simple substance, is nothing but what is called Perception. (The Monadology par. 14)
The assertion that the windowless Monad has the function of perception seems to be absurd because the conception “perception” means normally perception of the outside world.
Furthermore the perception as “the multiplicity in the unity” involves the serious problem because the notion of multiplicity is to be applied only to the body as a compound. A simple thing is not subject to change. However Leibniz supposed the Monad as created to change.
I assume also as admitted that every created being, and consequently the
created Monad, is subject to change, and further that this change is continuous in each. (The Monadology par. 10)
The Monad is a single thing, it has no parts therefore it cannot be multiple. Multiple is only the body or the matter.
With “the multiplicity in the unity” Leibniz had better describes the unifying function of mind which reflect the diversity of outside world. But the Monads have no windows, they cannot perceive the outside world.
In this regard the system of the Monad is not consistent.
# The analogy of mill
Leibniz tried to exemplify the ideality or spirituality of the Monad by means of “the multiplicity in the unity” in his “perception” : The analogy of mill.
If we went into a thinking machine as into a mill and investigate its interior we could find only parts which work one upon another and never anything by which to explain a perception. (The Monadology par. 17)
Here Leibniz reaffirms his basical principle that mind is unity and body (or machine) is a compound. However fine and intelligent a machine or A.I. might be, it can not be a human mind, spirit.
The perception of Monad includes unconscious perception as well as conscious perception. Leibniz expands the range of mind from Conscious Thought to the Unconscious Perception.
In this matter the Cartesian view is extremely defective, for it treats as non-existent those perceptions of which we are not consciously aware. This has also led them to believe that minds [esprits] alone are Monads, and that there are no souls of animals nor other Entelechies. (The Monadology par. 14)
Animals and other creatures are said to have souls which have the meaning of a primitive mind : a bare Monad.
Besides the perceptual element of the Monad the Soul Leibniz attributed the notion of desire to the Monad :
The activity of the internal principle which produces change or passage from
one perception to another may be called Appetition. (The Monadology par. 15)
By means of the concept of desire(=Appetitoin) Leibniz establishes the continual activity of human mind or historical aspect of mind: Mind is the continuity of perception.
Furthermore we should examine the above- mentioned phrase : “Monads have their own qualities”.
According to Aristotle sensation is a change of quality, which corresponds to the Appetition(=desire) of Leibniz. By Aristotle sensation depends on affection from outside. However Leibnizian perception is an internal event. The change of quality occurs only inside a Monad. There is no relation or interaction between Monad and World. Leibniz attributes the relation between Monad and World to the providence, so-called pre-established Harmony.
The soul follows its own laws, and the body likewise follows its own laws; and they agree with each other in virtue of the pre-established harmony between all substances, since they are all representations of one and the same universe. (The Monadology par. 78)
3. Hylomorphism in the Monadology
As over quoted Leibnizan text, the notion of perfection (Entelechy) alludes to the philosophy of Aristotle because Entelechy means in the philosophy of Aristotle actuality as opposed to potentiality. Or Entelechy is something that contains or realizes a final cause, esp the vital force thought to direct the life of an organism. (Collins Dictionary)
Aristotle said as follows:
“The soul is the cause or source of the living body. (···)
It is (a) the source or origin of movement, it is (b) the end, it is (c) the essence of the whole living body. (Aristotle, On the Soul, 415 b)
Plants as well as animals were said to have souls.
What has soul in it differs from what has not, in that the former displays life. (ibid. 413a)
The soul is the principle of life and movement. The movement here includes locomotion, generation, decay, nutrition, reproduction, sensation, imagination, memory, calculation and thought. Namely the notion of soul is by Aristotle far more comprehensive than usual notion of it, viz. perception and thinking which are generally represented as the function of mind.
Briefly by Aristotle soul is life and cause of alteration(or motion).
Leibniz understands soul like Aristotle as form, perfection(Entelechy) or cause. Without soul as form, body is only matter as a synthesis of inorganic substances. In order to point out the formative function of soul Leibniz invokes the metamorphosis of animals, insects. While employing the scientific discovery at that time, i.e. the preformation of animals, he admitted not only the organic body but also a soul in this body.
Philosophers have been much perplexed about the origin of forms, entelechies, or souls; but nowadays it has become known, through careful studies of plants, insects, and animals, (···) and it is held that not only the organic body was already there before conception, but also a soul in this body, and, in short, the animal itself. (ibid. par. 74)
The above statements follows the hylomorphism of Aristotle. The Monads as souls perform the organic body. The Monad is form or perfection of the matter.
However this argument doesn’t accord with the original concept of Monadology which separates unity of mind from diversity of matter. And the former has nothing to do with the latter. The Monads have no windows. The mind has no ability to know the body, the outside world. From a standpoint of the Monadology it is not possible for us to rationally recognize the world.
By the way the hylomorphism supposes the form, the soul to govern the matter, the body: The form is the efficient and final cause of the matter. In contrast Leibnizian Monadology claims the strict dualism of soul and body each of which follows its own laws.
The soul follows its own laws, and the body likewise follows its own laws; and they agree with each other in virtue of the pre-established harmony between all substances, since they are all representations of one and the same universe. (ibid. par.78)
In this regard the Monadology falls into the trap of the dogmaticism even if it has many splendid ideas about philosophy, that is soul, body, perception and unconscious mind etc.
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